


Case Closed

by Jaye_Voy



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Explicit Language, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 06:34:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6068893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaye_Voy/pseuds/Jaye_Voy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chakotay speaks his mind in the wake of the Jonas incident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Case Closed

**Author's Note:**

> Set immediately after "Investigations".  
> Originally written for the 2003 "Die J/C Die" contest. Although there are some tweaks, the story's contents (and its flaws) are mostly intact.  
> I go by the original birth dates for Chakotay (2335) and B'Elanna (2346).

"Well, now that we have Seska's link to Voyager severed and Tom back safe and sound, I think we should call it a day." Self-satisfaction added oil to Janeway's tone, even if she had schooled her features to reflect the gravity of the death of Michael Jonas. "All's well that ends well."

Tuvok displayed his typical non-reaction, merely gathering his padds to leave the Ready Room.

Chakotay set his own instruments aside with exaggerated precision. He had been holding his tongue until this moment, when he was certain that Voyager was safe.

He leaned forward in his chair. "I just have one more question."

Two sets of raised brows waited for him to continue.

Staring directly into the captain's eyes, Chakotay let his anger add an acid bite to each word. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Both Tuvok and Janeway leaned back in their seats in shock at the vehemence of the tone. Then she recovered her usual composure, rising to brace both arms on the desk. "What did you say, mister?"

Chakotay stood as well, looming over her petite form even with a desk between them. His quiet outrage seemed to fill the room, almost shimmering in the air around him.

Both of the 'Fleeters were abruptly reminded that Chakotay was, in fact, a very dangerous man. He usually concealed his command persona under an air of gentlemanly goodfellowship. But not now.

Chakotay breathed deep, refusing to give in to the fury that had been churning in his gut since the moment he learned of the plot to uncover the identity of Seska's spy. Since the second he realized the extent of Tom Paris's deception and the unwitting role he himself had played in the drama that had so humiliatingly devolved into farce.

There were greater concerns, consequences vastly more serious than his own wounded pride, that needed to be addressed. "I asked you what the hell you were thinking to pull this stunt---not only sending Tom Paris on what amounted to a suicide mission, but also leaving me completely in the dark."

Tuvok had also stood, a vague thought of providing some sort of buffer driving him to his feet. But Chakotay simply held his ground, eyes blazing.

Waiting.

Janeway swallowed and tilted her chin, attempting to smother Chakotay's heat with her icy hauteur. "Commander, we've been over this already. We felt your knowing participation would compromise our chances of the ruse succeeding."

"And it was such a brilliant plan you simply had no other choice but to implement it?" Chakotay suddenly abandoned his pose and moved back to perch on one arm of his chair. His features twisted in contempt. "*That* was the best you could come up with? Destroy Paris's already-tarnished reputation, then abandon him to the tender mercies of Seska and the Kazon?"

He snorted. "What would have happened if they hadn't been stupid enough to put him in a room with a communications console---or worse, if they'd stripped him or searched him and found that little device you planted on him?"

The stiffness of Tuvok's posture matched his words. "Speculation on what might have gone wrong is hardly relevant, Commander. Mr. Paris was successfully retrieved and the spy Michael Jonas neutralized." 

An arched eyebrow shifted Chakotay's tattoo. "You think so? As a fellow tactician I can't believe you endorsed this scheme, Tuvok. I can imagine a dozen safer ways to find the spy---ones that don't involve risking a man's life."

He shook his head in disbelief. "You believed the culprit was Maquis. Why didn't you use that to your advantage? You could have laid a canary trap---had each suspect look a different place for more information, or leaked the same juicy tidbit to different people at predetermined times. Or you could have simply deciphered the transmissions and figured out the source that way."

One hand swept the air as if dismissing the very idea as preposterous. "But of course you couldn't involve *any* of the Maquis---we were all on your list of possible spies. You didn't trust Torres or Ayala to help decode the signal---which, by the way, Tuvok, was a variation on an old Maquis system that we abandoned before you infiltrated the cell. It would have taken them less than a day to figure it out."

Chakotay's eyes raked the two once more. "Nor did you consider narrowing your search by asking me who would be likely to side with Seska. Or even bother to let me know that ship's security had been compromised. Yep, that was certainly one for the textbooks."

Janeway snapped back, "It worked, didn't it?"

"At what cost?" Chakotay retorted. "Do you have any idea what you've wrought? What's already happening among the crew?" He searched Janeway's face, his own expression grave. "You've redrawn the line between Maquis and Starfleet."

He snorted. "Carved it into a canyon, more accurately. The 'Fleeters now know you *still* don't think the Maquis are worthy of your trust."

Weariness accompanied his sigh. "And the Maquis are back to believing they'll never be equals here. That they'd be better off taking their chances with their own ship---and maybe even that the ship should be Voyager."

Janeway and Tuvok shared a glance full of uncertainty. They'd banked on the crew uniting in their disdain for Seska and her pawn. They hadn't expected to lose that particular gamble. They both sat back down.

Chakotay remained perched where he was, again simply waiting.

"It's obvious we need to contain this as soon as possible." Janeway laced her fingers together, brows drawn in concentration.

"If the commander's assessment is true, Captain, the crew is clearly projecting their own anxieties onto what they perceive is your lack of confidence in your First Officer." Tuvok considered a moment. "The most logical way to remove the anxiety is to alter the perception."

"Agreed," Janeway said, her expression clearing. She rested her elbows on the desk, hands shaping the air as if cataloging the elements of her new strategy. "We'll all make a point of appearing together for the next few weeks---a show of command solidarity. Also, Chakotay, I think it would be good for you to drop a few hints that you think things are being blown out of proportion. Maybe even joke that you agree that your acting skills weren't up to snuff."

"Oh, so you want *me* to start lying too now, is that it?" Chakotay's lips twisted once more with derision.

Janeway's mouth thinned to a tight line of anger at the jibe. "Watch your tone, *Commander*. You're skirting the edge of insubordination. I appreciate that you've brought up a valid concern, but I am simply not in the mood to deal with your bruised ego on top of everything else that's happened. Bottom line---you're not exactly known for your skill at deception. The stakes were too high to risk the whole operation on your performance. You were a liability we couldn't afford."

She glared, every inch the Starfleet captain issuing orders. "You will do whatever is necessary to ensure the welfare of this crew. Including telling them that you're OK with being kept out of the loop."

Chakotay stood slowly. "I don't think so, Captain. This is one mess I'm not going to clean up for you. If any of the crew come to me, then I'll help them deal with the fallout one-on-one. And any talk of mutiny will be addressed. But I'm not going to pretend everything is fine between us, because it isn't. And I'm not sure when, or if, it ever will be again."

In contrast to his earlier upset, now Chakotay was completely calm as he assessed his...superior. "*You* broke the trust. Between captain and First Officer, between Starfleet and Maquis. This situation could have brought all of us closer together, but now..." 

His eyes darkened, a glimpse of the turmoil that still raged behind his placid exterior. "Now you'd better hope that my acting ability exceeds your expectations, or every man and woman on this ship will know just how great my contempt is for you."

He didn't ask to be dismissed. Stunned silence followed him out the door.

************************************************************

B'Elanna picked her way delicately down the stone steps cut into the rock wall. She knew the holodeck safeties were on, so there was no chance of falling, but the sheer drop on her left-hand side was giving her a touch of vertigo.

The sun-warmed rock on her right felt like a living thing as she pressed her palm to the cliff face for security. She continued downward, seeking her quarry.

B'Elanna was so focused on scanning the sere and rugged landscape she almost missed Chakotay.

He was seated on a ledge jutting from the wall where the natural staircase turned a corner to continue down to the valley. His feet were dangling over open air, and his face was somber as he gazed at the vista of stone painted by long-ago rivers. The descendant of those mighty floods was a twisting shadow far below.

"Hey, Chakotay," B'Elanna said quietly. She hesitated, gauging his mood, then stepped onto the ledge.

The uneven surface was covered in loose dirt and stone. One foot slipped, sending her off-balance, arms flailing in an attempt to regain her stability. She keenly felt the empty space yawning so close.

Then strong fingers grasped her forearm, pulling her forward. Her free hand clamped on Chakotay's shoulder as she caught her breath.

B'Elanna's laugh was shaky as she maneuvered to match Chakotay's position: feet swinging into the abyss, back securely pressed against the rock wall. "Not exactly the best place for a rendezvous, old man."

Chakotay grunted and let go, giving his companion a sidelong glance. "I wasn't planning on company."

"No, you like to do your brooding alone." When no response was forthcoming, B'Elanna shifted to the nominal reason for her visit. "I received confirmation from Ayala. Word is out: no one expresses their displeasure on Paris's hide." 

She shifted irritably as she muttered, "But I still think the smug p'tahq could use taking down a peg or two."

Chakotay's profile softened into a fond grin as he murmured, "Sheathe those claws, tiger. He isn't worth it." 

His expression sobered as he sighed. "I don't think Paris is really the problem, anyway. He was just following orders. Like Tuvok. And Seska."

B'Elanna felt a frisson of alarm at the despondent tone. Chakotay was the most resilient person she knew, time and again bouncing back from tragedy or disappointment, ready to offer hope and consolation to those around him. In all the time she'd known him she'd never heard him sound so defeated.

Mentally she cursed Seska and Jonas for creating this situation, and Janeway, Tuvok, and Paris for making such a mess of it and dragging Chakotay along with them. But that wouldn't do Chakotay any good. He'd already shown his lack of interest in revenge when he'd decreed Paris off-limits. Still, there had to be something she could do for her friend. A man who, if she were honest with herself, she wished was even more.

B'Elanna thought of all the times Chakotay had pushed and prodded until she shared her troubles, and the way he listened to her grumbles without judgement or censure. The least she could do was try to return the favor.

She wormed her right arm inside the angle of Chakotay's left, pressing palm to palm, twining their fingers together. She nudged his ribs. "Talk to me, Chakotay."

Chakotay sighed, running his other hand through his hair before dropping it to his lap.

For a long time they sat in silence. Chakotay struggled within himself to decide whether he should burden B'Elanna with the jumbled emotions he was still trying to work through.

He'd admired the fierce young woman since the moment they met. She was certainly a fighter, protective of her friends, merciless toward her enemies. Bold and brilliant in the area of engineering, hesitant and almost shy outside of it. Hiding her insecurity beneath a gruffness that only made her more endearing.

Chakotay knew that in a way he did her a disservice by refusing to open up. B'Elanna was a clear-eyed adult, tempered by her rough-and-tumble life, more pragmatic than himself in some ways. Also more honest, dismissive of smokescreens like prevarication and dissembling. And tact. He almost smiled again despite the somber nature of his thoughts.

Decision made, he tilted his head back and squeezed the slender fingers in his own. "I was just wondering whether I should apologize to you---to all of our old comrades."

"Apologize? For what?" Puzzlement turned B'Elanna to face her companion more fully.

"For proving yet again you had a fool for a cell leader." Chakotay shrugged. "I'm starting to believe we were lucky to have survived at all."

This was worse than B'Elanna expected. "Chakotay, you're the injured party here. You shouldn't sit here blaming yourself. You should be railing against the way Tuvok and the captain treated you."

The brown eyes that glanced her way held a brief flash of mischief. "I already did that. Before you turned the corner I was half-expecting you to be my escort to the brig."

"You told Janeway off?" B'Elanna felt an unexpected surge of glee that she quickly suppressed. "Then why are you beating yourself up about this? You couldn't have had any idea you were being deliberately manipulated by your own colleagues."

"B'Elanna, I should have known---or at least had some inkling that Paris wasn't on the up and up. His actions didn't make any sense at the time, but I dismissed my doubts as just not understanding how Paris's mind works. I believed he was sincere. That all of them were." Chakotay's eyes dropped as he shook his head. "Even Kes seems to be less naive than I am."

He looked once more at the canyon. "I let two spies into my cell. If we hadn't been thrown out here by the Caretaker we would have ended up in a Federation prison---or worse, a Cardassian POW camp. And here on Voyager, I've been made a patsy by my own captain---who would rather trust a two-bit ex-mercenary instead of her own First Officer. What does that say about me?" His voice roughened as he struggled to contain the swirl of guilt and grief. "I keep thinking how all of you deserve so much better."

B'Elanna would always be grateful to Kathryn Janeway for making her Voyager's Chief Engineer. But at that moment, she could cheerfully have decked the captain without a second thought. She released her hold on Chakotay's hand to grip his shoulders and turn him to face her. Then she shook him, good and hard. "Bullshit."

Chakotay broke her hold, leaning back out of range. "What?"

"You heard me." B'Elanna crossed her arms to resist the temptation to shake more sense into him. "Chakotay, you believe in people. That's part of your nature. You give them the benefit of the doubt."

She noticed his wary posture relax slightly; he was listening. Her voice gained strength as she continued, "To be accepted, to be trusted when you figure the whole universe is out to get you...that's more important than you can ever know."

She raised her brows. "Just how do you think you managed to turn a ragtag bunch of drifters and angry rebels into a fighting force that made you a target for both the Federation *and* Cardassia? Your boyish good looks?"

B'Elanna grinned as Chakotay snorted and rolled his eyes. But then she sobered as she regarded him. It was time for a few more home truths. "Chakotay, let's face it. Nobody's perfect. All of us were fooled by Seska and Tuvok---hell, Seska may have been your lover but she was my best friend. And what happened with Jonas took everybody by surprise. Nobody thought Paris was pretending, and not one of us---Maquis *or* 'Fleet---would have expected the captain to keep you completely in the dark."

She reached out and grasped his hands, needing the contact. "This crew may be on shaky ground at the moment, but one thing we're all sure of is that we trust *you*, Chakotay. And your trusting in us as you always have is what's going to heal the cracks created by Seska's and Janeway's mind games. So if that makes you a fool, you can be damn sure that I---" she faltered for only a moment at the slip "---we---wouldn't want you any other way."

Chakotay tilted his head, searching B'Elanna's face, gauging her sincerity. Wondering if he could accept the balm of her words to ease the pain in his soul. Even as bruised and battered his faith in his own judgement had become, he couldn't bring himself to doubt B'Elanna. Not when it came to this. "OK."

B'Elanna's heart skipped a beat at the shy smile on Chakotay's face. Her own lips curved even as a blush rose in her cheeks. "All right, then," she muttered, ducking her head as she scooched back into her original position by Chakotay's side.

Chakotay put an arm around B'Elanna's shoulder and gathered her closer to himself. He sighed and rubbed his cheek against her hair as she leaned into him. "Do you know what the worst part of all this has been?"

She just shook her head, sliding her own arm around his waist as she made herself comfortable.

"I thought I was in love with her." Chakotay's admission was a pained whisper.

B'Elanna froze. Swallowing, she said just as quietly, "Captain Janeway?"

Chakotay nodded, a rueful grimace squinting his eyes. "Yes. I imagined us thrown together by fate. It was just that...I haven't had such a sense of peace since the day I resigned from Starfleet." 

He sighed. "Now I have to wonder whether she was really the cause, or if that was just me building my relief at being accepted by Starfleet again into something more."

"Can you explain?" B'Elanna asked. She thought it ironic to be ensconced in Chakotay's embrace while they discussed his feelings for someone else, but then they'd shared a lot of odd experiences over the course of their friendship.

His brow furrowed as he spoke slowly, trying to feel his way through the tangle of emotions. "I realized earlier when I was confronting the captain that I didn't perceive her the same way anymore."

Chakotay chuckled. "I was so mad I couldn't see straight, but I managed to keep things on a professional level. And when I got here, I realized that I didn't want to go back and hash out the personal betrayal anymore. It was like Kathryn broke her hold on me on both levels when she chose to use me as a pawn in her game."

He tightened his arm around B'Elanna, turning the gesture into a hug. "I know I don't love her. I can't, because I don't trust her anymore. And you can't have one without the other." 

After a pause, he admitted, "I'm not sure if I can even be friends with her now."

B'Elanna debated with herself a moment. A nascent jealousy was urging her to keep Chakotay thinking along this path, to sever his ties completely. If he never forgave Janeway he would never be tempted to imagine himself still in love with her.

In the end though, Chakotay's trust in her forced B'Elanna to speak the truth. Just as she always expected from him. "You know you're just blowing smoke, Chakotay. A united command team is good for the crew, and you always do what's best for them." 

She tilted her face up to his, wistfully measuring how close their lips were. It would take the slightest move on either of their parts to bridge that gap.

But she couldn't do it. Not now, while Chakotay needed her as a friend.

She tried on a mischievous smile. "Just promise me you'll make her work for it, will you?"

Chakotay laughed, feeling the weight of burdens both known and unnamed sliding from his psyche. His heart warmed as he thanked whatever kind fate had given him such a good friend in B'Elanna.

Such a bright spirit, such an honest sounding board...such a beautiful woman.

The sudden realization of just how much B'Elanna might mean to him stole Chakotay's breath. He stared, drinking in the wide dark eyes set in a face that was uniquely attractive.

He blinked and firmly took control of his wayward thoughts.

She would not be someone he just picked up on the rebound from Kathryn. B'Elanna deserved better. Of *that*, he had no doubt.

He leaned forward slightly and pressed a ghost of a kiss to her forehead. "Thank you," he said softly.

"You're welcome," was B'Elanna's equally quiet reply.

Then the two friends resumed their contemplation of the canyon. Lost in their own thoughts.

Content.

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are welcomed with great joy and constructive criticism is treasured as a rare gift.


End file.
